Thursday, December 20, 2007

One of Al Qaeda’s senior theologians is calling on his followers to end their military jihad and saying the attacks of September 11, 2001, were a “catastrophe for all Muslims.”

In a serialized manifesto written from prison in Egypt, Sayyed Imam al-Sharif is blasting Osama bin Laden for deceiving the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, and for insulting the Prophet Muhammad by comparing the September 11 attacks to the early raids of the Ansar warriors. The lapsed jihadist even calls for the formation of a special Islamic court to try Osama bin Laden and his old comrade Ayman al-Zawahri.

The disclosures from Mr. Sharif, also known as Dr. Fadl and Abd al-Qadir ibn Abd al-Aziz, have already opened a rift at the highest levels of Al Qaeda.

Be glad you don’t have to pay this man’s insurance premiums:

The group’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, a former associate of the defecting theologian in Egypt, personally mocked him last month in a video, remarking that he was unaware Egyptian prisons had fax machines. Meanwhile, leading Western analysts are saying the defection of Mr. Sharif indicates the beginning of the end for Al Qaeda.

An expert on Islamic terrorism with the Jamestown Foundation, Steven Ulph, also said the defection of Mr. Sharif could hemorrhage support for Al Qaeda. “The important point to make, when you have the combination of a respected ideologue, plus someone who was in the field, say these things it is more important than having a Saudi sheik that moderates his message,” he said.

[…]

Mr. Sharif, currently serving a life sentence in an undisclosed Egyptian prison, wrote in the 1980s two of the modern seminal texts for Sunni jihadism and in particular Al Qaeda, in “Fundamental Concepts Regarding Jihad” and “The Five Ground Rules for the Achieving of Victory or Its Absence.” Those books are scholarly justifications, citing the Koran and Hadiths, for joining a war against Muslim apostates such as the Egyptian ruling class and for a broader jihad against the far enemy of America.

This is better than any gossip coming out of the U.S. Who cares about the She-cat, or whether John Edwards keeps his trousers zipped and his hair combed? What is important is that Sharif has decided to open his mouth:

His latest texts are a renunciation of his earlier work, saying the military jihad or war against apostate states and America is futile. But the ex-jihadist also calls into question the virtue of Mr. bin Laden and Mr. Zawahri. In some ways the manifesto reads in parts like a spicy Washington memoir by an embittered former official.

Of his old associates he writes, “Bin Laden, al-Zawahri, and others fled at the beginning of the American bombing [in Afghanistan], to the point of abandoning their wives and families to be killed along with other innocent people,” according to a translation provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute. It goes on, “I think that a sharia court should be established, composed of reliable scholars, to hold these people accountable for their crimes - even if in absentia - so that those who are ignorant in their religion do not repeat this futility.”

On Monday, an American intelligence official familiar with the interrogation of Mr. Sharif said that in 2004 the Al Qaeda cleric was tortured. “All I am saying is that screw drivers were involved,” this official, who asked to be anonymous, said. When asked if Mr. Sharif was tortured, Mr. Gunaratna responded by saying, “He spent time in an Egyptian prison.”

But Mr. Gunaratna also said he believed Mr. Sharif’s conversion was genuine. “He has had a genuine change of heart because we are seeing a trend today in Egypt where the original members of both of the major jihadist organizations are turning, the senior members of these groups, many have gone back and been remorseful,” he said. “He is not an exception because there is a trend. . . The traditional jihad movement is almost coming to an end. What has it accomplished in more than 25 years?”

Is this a rhetorical question?

Would anyone care to answer it? I could begin by enumerating all the Arabic words I’ve learned. “Allahu Akbar” comes to mind.

And how about those missing towers in New York City and their impact on the past and future US presidential elections?

Or we could consider the Christmas festivities for all the families in London and Madrid who will be observing the “celebration” without their loved ones.

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comments:

Please forgive my cynicism, for this to be coming out cannot be a bad thing, BUT:

1) the attacks of September 11, 2001, were a “catastrophe for all Muslims.” - not that they were wrong, but that we fought back.

2) blasting Osama bin Laden for deceiving the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, and for insulting the Prophet Muhammad - Muhammad is still a swell guy and someone to emulate.

3) His latest texts are a renunciation of his earlier work, saying the military jihad or war against apostate states and America is futile. - if we had rolled over, the jihad would NOT futile.

4) “I think that a sharia court should be established, composed of reliable scholars, to hold these people accountable for their crimes - even if in absentia - so that those who are ignorant in their religion do not repeat this futility.” - Islam is still good and Sharia is still Allah's law for man. Ignorance is in the eye of the beholder.

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Fighting back works. Hitting them harder than they hit us works. The only thing a Muslim understands is a NO! backed up a bigger stick than they have.

Resistance is NOT futile. Europe should resist totally and not back down. Perhaps the fighting we all are afraid of will not happen or be as bad as we assume, and the Muslims will just leave.

The Islamic ego is built on sand, and the memory of conquest when the rest of the world could not believe the barbarity that broke out of Arabia and hence could not muster the will to resist it.

The traditional jihad movement is almost coming to an end. What has it accomplished in more than 25 years?”

No, I don't think it is a rhetorical question. And I don't think missing buidlings or dead Americans is much of an accomplishment, at least to those serious about the larger goals of Islam.

If the goals of the jihad were to continuously increase the size and power of dar-al-Islam it has had little success. Perhaps it has been most successful in S.E. Asia where Indonesia, Maylaysia and southern Thailand appear to be coming under increasing dominance by radical Islam.

However Afghanistan, which was arguabley the genesis of the modern jihad, has been lost back to more secular government.

The huge swell in both awareness of Islam's ultimate aims and suspicion of moslems in general has, no doubt, slowed or halted the march of Dar-al-Islam into many border states.

Thus if there were a "President of Islam" looking at Al Qaeda and OBL as his army and generals I think he would say that their war has failed to achieve much of anything.

Part of ending terrorism is convincing terrorists that they antics will never win them their goals.

Even though we might still distrust and dislike Islam for legitimate reasons we should all be happy to have them reject terrorist jihad as a method to spread their ideology. Islam reduced to prostelitizing is still a problem, eventually, but a less malignant one.

Drider:Unfortunately, you are wrong. The fight has been bred out of the Europeans. From my experience, the only meme they know is "blame Americans for everything, spit in their food when they visit and yell at them in bars".

One of Al Qaeda’s senior theologians is calling on his followers to end their military jihad and saying the attacks of September 11, 2001, were a “catastrophe for all Muslims.”

It’s a “catastrophe for all Muslims” only because they’re currently getting their miserable butts kicked like clockwork. Had the United States surrendered, this same murderous swine right now would be crowing with delight. Jailhouse conversion, indeed.

The lapsed jihadist even calls for the formation of a special Islamic court to try Osama bin Laden and his old comrade Ayman al-Zawahri.

Q’elle surprise! It only took, what, some SIX YEARS for this rotter to conclude that perhaps Islam should issue death fatwan against bin Laden and al-Zawahri? As if such a thing would ever happen anyway. All the same, this is a rather a belated recognition of the facts on the ground. Had Muslims thrust these mass murderers into Western hands within months of the 9-11 atrocity, I might have a very different opinion of Islam than I do today. Instead, they didn't and I do not.

Meanwhile, leading Western analysts are saying the defection of Mr. Sharif indicates the beginning of the end for Al Qaeda.

These are the same analysts who produced that recent NIE, no doubt.

His latest texts are a renunciation of his earlier work, saying the military jihad or war against apostate states and America is futile.

In the case of America, not so much “futile” as exceedingly dangerous to the continued health of all Islam. Not that the illustrious Mr. Sharif cares to be quite that forthcoming about Islam's military weakness.

“All I am saying is that screw drivers were involved,”

Somehow, I sincerely doubt that vodka and orange juice played any role. Note to self: Try to summon up at least one crocodile tear for Mr. Sharif.

Drider is on the money. Once Europe finally wakes up and smells the nargile, their gutters will run incarnadine with Muslim blood. This has been Europe's preferred problem-solving tool for many centuries and I see few indications that they will foresake this favorite approach. Instead, their traditional cycles of appeasement and willful ignorance are firmly in place. All that awaits is the usual charnel house.

All those kids named muhammed will be fighting age while all the europeons will be 50 and 60 year olds. The demographics of kids are the only important stat, the already grim stats are just a coverup because it's counting 40-80 year olds, whereas the war will be determined by 20-40 year olds.

Attention all GOV fans: Help stop abusive censorware from threatening the viability of GOV and other good counterjihad blogs. A blog that cannot reach those who want to read it will go out of business!

The only time I believe an Islamist is when he says taqiyya exists.Why should anybody believe a muslim let alone a muslim cleric when they have a culture of taqiyya and kitman?This culture of deceit is a problem for muslims not the rest of us.I don't believe this "theologian" speaking from a prison cell. Why should I?The philosophy of muslims is to pacify non-muslims until muslims are in a position of superior strength, then all bargains and agreements are off.

Mr. Sharif is attrite for his crimes. Most criminals who are sent to prison are sorry -- sorry they got caught.

Sadly, it may be a bit much to expect contrition from Mr. Sharif and his fellow travelers. Yet, his attrition does show that it may be possible to win this war without resorting to the methods of "total war".

In 1990, the New York Times, a liberal newspaper, quoted a member of the Afrikaner Broederbond say the following.

The apartheid concept was not intended to hurt people, but it didn't work out. It was not evil in conception, but there were certain evils in practice.

This was said during the twilight years of the South African apartheid state, and this attitude greatly irritated members of the African National Congress. Imagine if an Islamist said exactly the same thing, taking out the phrase "the apartheid concept" and inserting "jihad".

One theological concept apartheid theology and Islamism share is the concept of "destiny", or predeterminism. To someone who believes in destiny, one can rationalize any commission of evil in the belief that it is God's will. However, to someone who believes in predeterminism, decisive and utter defeat also indicates God's will. So, saying that something doesn't work, while utterly attrite, also recognizes that one does not hold the Mandate of Heaven.

By saying, "It didn't work out", this member of the Afrikaner Broederbond was essentially saying, "God is not on my side."

Stephen Gash: This culture of deceit is a problem for muslims not the rest of us.

Yet, for some insane reason the West still believes it can negotiate with an enemy whose objectives are non-negotiable. This does not even address the insanity of awarding credibility to one's foes where absolutely none is due. Progress will come only when Islam finds that nobody on earth believes a single thing it says.